Okay, sorry… we’ve been slack on the blog-front recently. But in our defence, we’ve been busy doing stuff. And ‘stuff’ includes cruising down to the Pacific Coast for some kayak action and marvelling at the fearless cliff-divers of 1960s hot-spot, Acapulco. But before all that… our doing ‘stuff’ involved having a windscreen fitted!!! Yes, you read that correctly… a windscreen fitted! We now have a clear view all the way to Acapulco!
Finally, a clear view
In early April we’d been waiting over three and a half months for a windscreen from Germany (full story click here). During the wait we decided to leave Cuthbert in Oaxaca and take a short trip back to UK. Whilst we were there, getting fat on the fabulous hospitality of family and friends, something astonishing happened… our windscreen was finally released from Mexican customs and delivered to the campsite in Oaxaca. Calvin at Overlander Oasis sent us a photo of the precious cargo, carefully laid out on a bed in his spare bedroom. No cracks, no chips, it looked in fine fettle. The term ‘gob-smacked’ might reasonably be applied to us receiving the news.
Leaving Mexico, we really thought that when we returned home to Cuthbert in a couple of weeks, we would receive further excuses as to why the windscreen couldn’t be released/delivered. We expected to be heading 2,500km back to Costa Rica to buy/fit a new one from Iveco in San Jose. Instead, we flew back to see the fitting taking place at the campsite and then to hit the road again continuing our tour of Mexico. Joy.
Boaty McBoatface boats again
So off we set, with a super-shiny-clean-new windscreen and a clear view all the way down to the Pacific seaside. The Pacific coast of Mexico is mostly surfer territory with waves or rough seas. But San Agustin bay near Huatulco has beautiful white sandy beaches, calm water and lots of islands and bays to explore with our inflatable kayak, Mr Boaty McBoatface. It’s six months since his last outing back in The Yucatan, so we were keen to hit the water for a paddle again. We spent a week in San Agustin taking Boaty out every day to explore the coast. There’s great snorkelling in the area too, but I learned a valuable lesson about coral cuts when I lost my snorkel in a very shallow section of the reef ☹
Heading north up the Pacific Coast we found another great place for Boaty McBoatface at Laguna Chacahua. Kassandra, a lovely local lady allowed us to park-up in her cafe garden for a few days alongside a jetty into the lagoon; very convenient for Boaty launching. Due to the windscreen-wait we had missed the peak bird migration season of Dec/Jan when the lagoon is famously dense with birdlife. But even with fewer birds, the lakes and mangroves make for interesting kayaking. Excuse me… ‘mangroves’? Don’t mangroves mean crocodiles? Well yes, apparently there are crocs around, but we’re assured they’re not aggressive here. They’re rarely seen and tend to stay away from humans. Must be true, as we didn’t see any. Phew.
Fearless in Acapulco
We continued northwards up the Pacific Coast to the 1950s/60s glamour mecca of Acapulco. Did you ever see Elvis Presley in ‘Fun in Acapulco’? Perhaps not Hollywood’s finest cinematic production, but it features the clavadistas (cliff divers) of Acapulco. Cliff-diving had been a spectator event there since around 1934, but in 1963 Elvis brought the dive-show to world attention in his movie. Seeing these guys (and they are all guys, I can only assume that the local girls have more sense) had been on my bucket-list for a few years when I first saw them over 20 years ago and they didn’t disappoint. Marcus hadn’t seen them before, so we decide to drop by on our way past Acapulco this time.
Each ‘show’ involves six or seven clavadistas: they swim across a narrow in-let (into which the ocean surges with powerfully in high swells), free-climb up the opposite cliff-face to reach tiny out-crops at varying heights, then elegantly plunge into the water to ripples of applause and cheers from the crowds. Their ability to judge the timing of the surge of the water is critical – if they time it badly and get the surge of the swell wrong, the water is too shallow and they will smash onto the rocks.
There are two spots from which to watch the fearless feats: (a) from the shade-less public viewing area for a reasonable fee of around £2; or (b) for the bargain price of over £8 per drink, you can watch from a table in the comfort and shade of the hotel terrace bar once frequented by stars such as Elizabeth Taylor, Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Junior. Call us wimps, we took the easy but extortionate option. A clear and unrestricted view of the guys is guaranteed. And given that getting a good vantage point in the public area involves standing around for almost an hour in full glare of the fierce midday-sun, we’d say that the extortionate option is (just about) worth it. Whichever option you take, the spectacle is nothing short of impressive. Despite the long-since faded glamour of Acapulco’s hey-day over 50 years ago, it’s still well worth stopping in the town to see these guys on your way through Mexico. Top Tip to note if you go… don’t (like we did) forget a decent camera! As you can see from the pics, our phone-cameras didn’t really do the business ☹
A cheap ride back high
After a couple of weeks in the coastal heat and the excitement of Acapulco, we headed back up to the central high-ground and the cooler climate of Mexico City at 2,300m. Due to our healthy aversion to driving in mid-week City-chaos, we made a dash on toll-roads to get there on a Sunday. Well… we say ‘toll-roads’… there was a very Latino-style, somewhat chaotic protest action on the route. At some pay-points, protesters had taken over the barriers, demanding and pocketing sums of money (random amounts, but lower than the official toll) for vehicles to pass. Other pay-points were ‘staffed’ by flocks of angry looking, flag-waving protesters shouting at us to keep driving and telling us not to pay anything. All in all, it was a cheap drive and just another day in Mexican politics.
Next instalment… Mexico City!